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I thought I’d share these “extras” from The Seventh Pleiade that aren’t included in the recently released edition of the book.

The story takes place in a prehistoric kingdom that was founded by the legendary Poseidon. There are many clans and many characters, but for the most part that’s a backdrop to the main story, which concerns sixteen-year-old Aerander who is undergoing his Panegyris–a sacred rite of passage for boys of royal birth. Aerander uncovers a conspiracy while searching for his missing cousin Damianos, and that investigation leads to a mission to save his kingdom.

Here’s more about the backstory and the sideline characters.

The kingdom of Atlantis was founded by Poseidon and bequeathed in portions to his five sets of twin sons. Poseidon’s sacred commandments maintain their union, the foremost being: “Ten Kings for One Kingdom.”

Each son was given the right to govern his lands as he saw fit, but in matters of the kingdom, there was one vote for each son. They convened every four years as a Governor’s Council to decide upon those matters, such as pledging units to the kingdom’s military and negotiating trade agreements. Naturally, when there were competing interests, alliances and rivalries formed. But the sons were sworn to never take up arms against each other. They were sworn to Poseidon’s commandment that there would never be one King for their country.

Governorship passed down those ten ancestral lines from father to first-born son or in an alternative patriarchal fashion (e.g. first-born son to second-born son if the first-born died without producing a male heir).

Here are the ten lines or Houses, briefly characterized. The emblem illustrations are by my husband Genaro Cruz. As the first-born son of Poseidon’s first set of twins, Atlas received the kingdom’s seat of power: the island city of Atlantis. The kingdom takes its name from him as does the Atlantic Sea.

Atlas stands above all in glory among Poseidon’s sons. He fought Minotaurs and Amazons and was known to be his father’s favorite. The Atlas emblem contains Poseidon’s most sacred symbol: the trident spear.

Still, a curse haunts his House. It was said that Atlas insulted an Amazon priestess, and she called upon her goddess to doom him to never raise an heir. According to legend, Atlas’ wife Pleione gave birth to seven daughters (the ‘Pleiades’) and one son Atlas II who died before reaching manhood. The Atlas bloodline is blighted by stillbirths of male children.

Featured Characters: Aerander, Prince Regent; Pylartes, his father and House Governor; Thessala, Pylartes’ wife; Damianos, a minor relation taken in by Pylartes as an orphan; Alixa and Danae, Aerander’s younger half-sisters; Atlas’ lost daughter, the titular “Seventh Pleiade.”The twin of Atlas, Gadir was given the bread basket of the kingdom in the wintry plains of Azilia, which borders the frozen and barbarous north. The House’s alliance with his ancestral brother has always been tinged with a bit of sibling rivalry. Gadir has produced strong politicians if not the military heroes of his brother clans.

Its emblem is verdant to extol the House’s agricultural power. Its three crescent moons in silver, bronze and gold represent Gadir’s nobility.

Featured characters: Dardanos and Evandros, friends and allies of Aerander; Governor Hesperos.

Amphisos is the first clan of the seafaring twins who received dominion of The Fortunate Isles. Amphisos holds the key island outpost of Bimini, the “Gateway to the West.”

The House is known for its rugged and reliable trade galleys that ferry commodities around the world. The fighting dolphins represented in its emblem commemorate the sea-dwelling creatures that were sacred to Poseidon and a sign of good fortune to sailors.

Featured Characters: Kaleidos, a Panegyris celebrant; Deuterion, House Governor..

Eudemon’s House garnered fame for its naval adventurers. Its people have a proud tradition of sagas which chronicle the journeys of their sea captains who fought barbarian raiders and monsters like the Scylla.

Its red emblem represents its stouthearted, red-bearded men who command the House’s warships in the fearsome North Atlantic Sea. A starburst hails Eudemon’s supremacy on the glinting waters.

Featured characters: Lysimachos, a Panegyris celebrant; Leonitos and Kosmos, his cousins; Eulian, Lysimachos’ father and House Governor; Hecamenes, father of Leonitos and Kosmos.

As Atlas was the favorite of Poseidon, Mneseus was the favorite younger brother of Atlas. Handsome and fearless, Mneseus received the continent of Lemuria where he battled an ancient kingdom of natives (Lemurians) into subjugation. The country boasts the kingdom’s prized lumber — teak and locust — as well as a thriving market for domestic slaves. The hawk is a symbol of Mneseus’ martial strength.

Featured Characters: Calyiches, Aerander’s boyhood lover and a Panegyris celebrant; Oleon, Calyiches’ younger brother; Kondrian, Calyiches’ father and House Governor.

The emblem for House Autochthonos is the stallion tower shield, which reflects its martial tradition. They boast that their boys are taught to ride ponies in the grasslands of Tamana before they have learned to walk on their own two feet. Military discipline is their hallmark, and the House can be counted on to have strong contenders in the kingdom’s athletic games.

Featured characters: Radamanthes, a Panegyris celebrant; Ephegene, House Governor.

Elassipos’ stronghold is the southwestern coast of Azilia where Atlantis’ “second city” Tartessos flourishes. Like Autochthonos, they are a military clan, and the two Houses vie for bragging rights to having the most ferocious legionnaires. Their men are tall of stature with aquiline noses, and they wear their golden hair long with one ponytail knotted high on their heads. Their symbol is the ibis rearing her wings for flight.

Featured characters: Didophyles, a Panegyris celebrant; Trachmenes, House Governor.

When Mestor mined the arid mountains of his province in Mauritania, he discovered precious silver and gems that would make his House the richest of any of Poseidon’s legacies. His progeny built lavish palaces on the cliffs of the Middle Sea. The gentlemen and ladies of the court pride themselves on their refined, fine-woven costumes and handsome grooming. The women’s jeweled hair pins and pendants set the kingdom’s style. The rival Houses call Mestor frivolous and haughty, but its hard to finance a military campaign without the support of Mestor’s treasury.

Featured characters: Perdikkas, celebrant of the Panegyris; Basilides, his father and House Governor; Palmdyra, Perdikkas’s sister and hearthrob of the Panegyris.

The youngest set of twins was portioned the wild continent of Lost Pangea, which had been discovered and claimed by Atlas during the Twin Emperors’ reign (during which their brothers were too young to preside at court).

Azaes built its acropolis in the farthest reaches of the Pangean backcountry and commands a mighty land army to crush its barbarian enemies. Their high-walled fortresses are equipped with parapet archer stations. The House’s favored weapon: the bolt and crossbow are represented in its emblem.

Featured characters: Mesokantes, a Panegyris celebrant; Amphigoron, his father and House Governor.

Diaprepos was tasked with settling the southern portion of Lost Pangea. Like its twin House Azaes, Diaprepos boasts a tradition of rugged, battle-trained warriors.

The emblem also represents the clan’s rustic mysticism, specifically the sacrifice of the bull, which was instructed in Poseidon’s commandments. Diaprepos originated the ritual of bull-fighting. Its famed bull-masters risk their lives for a seat of honor at the table of their ancestral father in his heavenly realm.

Featured characters: Boros, a Panegyris celebrant; Spinther, House Governor.

Just a quick post to say my short essay “On Writing About Atlantis” went live on the Bold Strokes Authors Blog today. This is in anticipation of my young adult fantasy The Seventh Pleiade, which is upcoming in November!

So stop by the blog, drop a comment, let me know what you think about the legend of Atlantis.

I love Vanity Fair, and one of my favorite features is the George Wayne interview.

George Wayne is described as “a chronicler of global café society,” a “distinguished cultural arbiter,” (both from Vanity Fair) and an “invasive celebrity interrogator” (New York Magazine). He can be counted on to pose off-color and sexually-provocative questions to anyone, from A-list Hollywood actors to right-wing politicians. He’s kind of a forerunner to Sasha Cohen Baron’s Borat with a less intentionally clueless deviousness and more self-winking camp.

So I thought it would be fun to imagine Wayne interviewing the hero Jacks Dowd from my upcoming Werecat: The Rearing.

Retrieved from VanityFair.com

Wayne: So Jacks, you’re a gay college student. Tell us what the young gays are doing for fun these days.

Dowd: I was a college student. But I dropped out in my last semester. I went to a pretty small college in upstate New York so there wasn’t a whole lot going on. House parties. Sometimes we’d go up to Montréal–

Wayne: I’ve heard there are now gay fraternities. Isn’t that concept redundant?

Dowd: They didn’t have any gay fraternities at Calverton University. They had a Gay-Straight Alliance.

Wayne: In my day, a Gay-Straight Alliance was something that happened in the backrooms of Merv Griffin’s studio. Or was it a hustler service for Republican politicians? Anyway, have you ever been spanked?

Dowd: (guffaws) Yeah.

Wayne: I promised myself I wasn’t going to ask this question. But I can’t help myself so let’s just get it out of the way. Your story is called Werecat. What is a gay man doing in a book about pussy?

Dowd: It’s about feline shapeshifters. I don’t have sex with women if that’s what you’re asking.

Wayne: Thank God. I knew a man on Fire Island who used to dress up as Cat Woman and pull a chariot down the boardwalk offering people free rides. Is that the kind of werecat we’re talking about?

Dowd: No.

Wayne: So what are the young werecats doing for fun these days?

Dowd: I would have no idea. If you read the book, my boyfriend and I spend most of the time hanging out in an abandoned building.

Now this is really cool news. BBC is producing a fantasy series based on the legend of Atlantis. Atlantis will be a thirteen x forty-five minute episode mini-series. It’s scheduled for broadcast in the fall.

The city of Atlantis is a mysterious, ancient place: a world of bull leaping, of snake haired goddesses and of palaces so vast it was said they were build by giants. It’s into this strange, compelling realm tha the young Jason arrives and a amazing adventure begins, bringing to life the vast store of Greek myths and legends re-imagined in 45 minute episodes for a new generation.

According to BroadcastNow.co.uk, Atlantis will be picked up by BBC Worldwide for international viewers. I hope that means we’ll be able to see it in the US soon!

BBC previously aired an Atlantis movie Atlantis End of a World, Birth of a Legend in 2010. I didn’t catch it, but it’s described as a historical drama based on the theory that a volcanic eruption near Crete (the destruction of the Ancient Minoans) was the source of the story. I posted the movie trailer below.